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Woman shot dead in gun fight outside U.S. Capitol had Connecticut license plates
After failing to ram down the gates to the White House, the unidentified woman led Secret Service agents and police on a pursuit toward the U.S. Capitol where she was shot dead. The gun battle temporarily put the U.S. Capitol in lock down.
A woman who tried to ram her way into the White House was shot dead Thursday after she led police on a high-speed chase through Washington that left one police officer injured.
The unidentified woman, who was driving a car with Connecticut license plates, had a child in the car with her who was not hurt, officials said.
"This appears to be an isolated incident," said Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine, who along with his officers are working without pay during the government shutdown. "Both scenes are under control."
The drama began around 2:20 p.m., officials said, after the female motorist --- driving a black Infiniti -- tried to breach White House security at 15th and E Streets, officials said.
Thwarted by the pylons and confronted by cops with their guns drawn, the woman hit the gas and raced 12 blocks toward the Capitol, chased at speeds of up to 80 mph by Secret Service agents and police.
At Constitution Ave. and Second St., she collided a Capitol Police car and then barreled into some barricades outside the Hart Senate Office building, Dine said.
Cornered, the woman came out shooting and was hit by gunfire in return, Dine said.
The child was taken to a nearby hospital for a checkup.
Sheer panic gripped the Capitol when the gunfire erupted.
“Shelter in place,” police officers responding to the crisis barked out at the startled politicians and their staffers.
The House, which had been in the midst of heated debates over how to end the government shutdown, immediately went into recess.
Lawmakers and staffers scurried into their offices, closed the curtains, and locked themselves inside until the threat was over and they were allowed to return to the chamber.
Meanwhile, a federal Parks police helicopter landed on the Mall directly in front of the building and quickly evacuated the injured officer. His name and condition was not known, but officials backed away from earlier reports that he had been shot and said “he was conscious and breathing.”
The FBI was investigating but the motive for the madness was not yet known.
Sen.Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said he was walking from the Capitol to the Senate Russell Office Building across the street when he spotted police officers racing up Constitution Ave. on motorcycles.
“Within seconds of that, we heard three, four, five pops,” Casey said.
Witness Peter Plocki, a furloughed federal lawyer from Silver Spring, Md., said he was in town for a tour of the Supreme Court and was eating lunch in front of the Botanical Gardens southeast of the Capitol when he heard 4 or 5 gunshots.
"Then I saw a car tear away from the traffic circle area followed by three police cars or so that had arrive there a few seconds before," he said. “The car goes screaming past the fountain followed by the police car shortly after the shots were fired."
From inside the Senate Press Gallery, which has windows facing in that direction, frightened tourists could be seen running near the Supreme Court on 1st Street.
“I heard three shots,” said Andrew Larison, 53, of Van Etten, N.Y., who was walking near the Capitol with his wife, daughter and grandchildren. “Then we saw a black car and several police chasing the black car.”
Justin Herman, another furloughed federal worker who lives on Capitol Hill, said he heard a “boom, boom, boom, boom.”
President Obama was not in Washington when the shooting started and has been briefed on the unfolding situation.
The lockdown on the Capitol was lifted at 3 p.m. and a half-hour later legislators resumed squabbling over defunding Obamacare and taking partisan potshots at each other.
The shooting happened two weeks after a crazed, shotgun-toting Navy contractor went on a deadly rampage through the Navy Yard and killed a dozen people before he was shot dead.
“Today was another reminder of the bravery of police officers and first responders,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “ I observed Capitol Police officers rushing towards danger while instructing the rest of us to take cover. I thank them and their families for their sacrifice and my thoughts and prayers go out for their safety.”
After failing to ram down the gates to the White House, the unidentified woman led Secret Service agents and police on a pursuit toward the U.S. Capitol where she was shot dead. The gun battle temporarily put the U.S. Capitol in lock down.
A woman who tried to ram her way into the White House was shot dead Thursday after she led police on a high-speed chase through Washington that left one police officer injured.
The unidentified woman, who was driving a car with Connecticut license plates, had a child in the car with her who was not hurt, officials said.
"This appears to be an isolated incident," said Capitol Police Chief Kim Dine, who along with his officers are working without pay during the government shutdown. "Both scenes are under control."
The drama began around 2:20 p.m., officials said, after the female motorist --- driving a black Infiniti -- tried to breach White House security at 15th and E Streets, officials said.
Thwarted by the pylons and confronted by cops with their guns drawn, the woman hit the gas and raced 12 blocks toward the Capitol, chased at speeds of up to 80 mph by Secret Service agents and police.
At Constitution Ave. and Second St., she collided a Capitol Police car and then barreled into some barricades outside the Hart Senate Office building, Dine said.
Cornered, the woman came out shooting and was hit by gunfire in return, Dine said.
The child was taken to a nearby hospital for a checkup.
Sheer panic gripped the Capitol when the gunfire erupted.
“Shelter in place,” police officers responding to the crisis barked out at the startled politicians and their staffers.
The House, which had been in the midst of heated debates over how to end the government shutdown, immediately went into recess.
Lawmakers and staffers scurried into their offices, closed the curtains, and locked themselves inside until the threat was over and they were allowed to return to the chamber.
Meanwhile, a federal Parks police helicopter landed on the Mall directly in front of the building and quickly evacuated the injured officer. His name and condition was not known, but officials backed away from earlier reports that he had been shot and said “he was conscious and breathing.”
The FBI was investigating but the motive for the madness was not yet known.
Sen.Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said he was walking from the Capitol to the Senate Russell Office Building across the street when he spotted police officers racing up Constitution Ave. on motorcycles.
“Within seconds of that, we heard three, four, five pops,” Casey said.
Witness Peter Plocki, a furloughed federal lawyer from Silver Spring, Md., said he was in town for a tour of the Supreme Court and was eating lunch in front of the Botanical Gardens southeast of the Capitol when he heard 4 or 5 gunshots.
"Then I saw a car tear away from the traffic circle area followed by three police cars or so that had arrive there a few seconds before," he said. “The car goes screaming past the fountain followed by the police car shortly after the shots were fired."
From inside the Senate Press Gallery, which has windows facing in that direction, frightened tourists could be seen running near the Supreme Court on 1st Street.
“I heard three shots,” said Andrew Larison, 53, of Van Etten, N.Y., who was walking near the Capitol with his wife, daughter and grandchildren. “Then we saw a black car and several police chasing the black car.”
Justin Herman, another furloughed federal worker who lives on Capitol Hill, said he heard a “boom, boom, boom, boom.”
President Obama was not in Washington when the shooting started and has been briefed on the unfolding situation.
The lockdown on the Capitol was lifted at 3 p.m. and a half-hour later legislators resumed squabbling over defunding Obamacare and taking partisan potshots at each other.
The shooting happened two weeks after a crazed, shotgun-toting Navy contractor went on a deadly rampage through the Navy Yard and killed a dozen people before he was shot dead.
“Today was another reminder of the bravery of police officers and first responders,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). “ I observed Capitol Police officers rushing towards danger while instructing the rest of us to take cover. I thank them and their families for their sacrifice and my thoughts and prayers go out for their safety.”
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